Then & Now

I was scrolling through the new "timeline" on facebook to see this time last year and what I was feeling and up to compared to now. A picture is worth a thousand words so nothing more needs to be said:

Then

Now

I like my new white and fluffy February so much better....

Our Adventure to Pismo Beach

Yesterday we decided to jump in our car and head out on an adventure! We are in California afterall and the weather has been BEA-utiful the past few days and we are only a couple hours from SOOOOO many things!

The day was AMAZING starting with the drive! We first drove through acres and acres of stinky dairy farms but after long we were out of the farms and surrounded by nothing but beautiful orange groves!! Reminded me of the Soaring Over California ride at Disneyland!

I had to pull over for a minute to find Tyce's binki and this is right where I stopped. I laughed when I read both of these signs:

We then drove through some mountains that were also beautiful and after 2 hours and 20 minutes, we got to the cute, cozy town of Pismo Beach!

The first thing I thought of was how good it smelled there! It smelled very strongly of pine trees and the salty ocean combined. LOVED it!!

We went straight to a beach that we could drive on so I was able to pull my car right up on the beach and unload. FaNTaStIC!!

I brought binoculars for Toby to play with. We were hoping to see whales

He was loving chasing the seagulls with his bubble gun

He collected seashells all over, including sand dollars!

And Tyce Baby loved it too of course!!

And then we left and went to a park where thousands of Monarch butterflies migrate to in the winter months! It was amazing to see these and you had to look through the telescope to even know that they were butterflys up there! They just looked like leafs!

But really were butterflys!! Who would have known?!

We then headed down a trail at the park

And came to this!!!

Yes, that's the Ocean!!

It was an AMaZing, refreshing day straight from

God and one we will never forget!

I think I'm going to like winter in California!

The Christmas Season

The Christmas season in California was not much different then Utah. I thought I would miss having a white Christmas but I'm so over even wishing for one because I can't even remember the last time it actually snowed on Christmas anyway in Utah. Every year for as long as I can remember, we've been anxiously watching the weather reports in hopes that we would have a beautiful snowy Christmas and it always misses. This year was no different there.

I loved decorating and having a different area to work with this year. I think it all turned out really nice and cozy.

We went to Disnyland on the 15th which of course was magical and I was GIDDY being there at Christmastime again!

Toby's Christmas performance from his preschool was SOOOOO cute!! They just sang a few songs and poor Toby was SOOOO tired and looked like he was going to fall asleep right there on the stage, but he did great and it was precious!! I cried when i watched it later knowing that this is his last year of preschool :(

I was feeling great and really happy when all of the sudden I started feeling SOOOOOO down! I don't know why but I felt like I was going through a mourning for my mom again which was really weird! I think a lot of it is because I'm a full time mom now and there's times I just need my mom and wonder what it would be like to have her here for a grandma to my kids and to get her advice, etc. Either way, I was having a very hard time and felt like I really needed my family. Sooooo, we worked it out so that we got to go spend Christmas with them!

We stayed at Joel's house which was really fun (I've never stayed anywhere other then my own house at Christmas) and then we stayed at Jennie's a couple of nights and we were back before the New Year. Sad news was that Robb had to leave to Texas because his Grandma died right on Christmas day. She had fallen a few days before and hurt her head and they took her off life support. She was 74 years old. Robb was really sad to see her go. He was hoping to have seen her one last time. The last time we had seen her was right after Toby was born when she came to visit and stay with us for a few days. She never did get to see Tyce :(

Jennie drove back home with me and the kids and spent a night here and it was a lot of fun hanging out with her and having her all to myself. She watched Tyce during the day so me and Toby could go spend time alone together and then that night after I got the kids to bed, her and I stayed up late and watched Oprah shows, ate ice cream and visited and laughed. It was good.

By New Years Eve, it was just me and my two boys. I had spent that entire day taking all my decorations down and cleaning so by that night I was exhausted. I think I went to bed by 8 pm. All in all though, it was an awesome Christmas season and I was SOOOOO grateful that I got to spend it with my family.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving turned out really special. I missed my family but it was also nice to have a relaxing, quiet day without all the chaos too. Me and Toby started cooking the day before and I finished it all up that day and we were sitting down to eat by 2. Everything turned out really good and because we did it at home, we even had leftovers for over a week! That morning we watched the Macey's Day Parade which Toby really got into this year so that was fun. After dinner I took Tyce and went on a walk and the weather was beautiful! It was in the low 60's and cool and crisp and all the leaves were at their peak in color. I just LOVED the fact that I could go outside without freezing! I didn't even have a jacket on. For our first Thanksgiving away from my family, it couldn't have gone any better. I wasn't sad or down at all. If fact, just the opposite. I felt nothing but peace and joy that no doubt came straight from God!

Oreo Turkeys

These were fun to make and even funner to eat!

Gobble Gobble Gobble

Today we made two fat little turkeys to help decorate our Thanksgiving table.

We painted the feathers

Stuffed the turkey

Made a little turkey head and then put it all together

Gobble Gobble Gobble Fat Turkey are We!!

Getting Ready for Thanksgiving

This will be the first year of my entire life that I haven't had Thanksgivng with a very large group. This year will just be me, Robb, Toby, Tyce and Robb's mom. Even though I will miss my family, I'm really looking forward to a more intimate, sit down, candle lit dinner.

Toby's at such a fun age right now and really likes to help me with things and do crafts so me and him are starting now and putting stuff together to set our Thanksgiving table with. We started with making the name card settings.

We went on a nature walk and gathered leafs and pinecones from around our subdivision.

After soaking the pinecones in vinegar and pressing the leafs, we painted the leafs and pressed them on our name cards

We then put our names on them and will secure them in the pinecones

Walla! Our all-natural name cards!

More fun to come!